Renan: civil servants will have to return excess salary.

Karine Melo
Reporter from Agência Brasil
Brasilia – The president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros (PMDB-AL), said today (26) that he will comply with the law regarding the return of the excess salary received by 464 employees of the House with salaries exceeding the constitutional ceiling, set at R$ 28.059,29. According to the TCU, more than R$ 300 million was paid to these employees in the last five years, in unadjusted values.

Yesterday (25), in addition to the interruption of the payment of salaries that exceed the ceiling, the plenary of the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) gave the Senate 30 days to return the extra amount. “Immediately, we will implement the decision and charge [the employees] for what was overpaid,” said Renan.

The Senate Presidency's press office explained that the salary deduction for employees will begin with the next payroll. As stipulated in Law 8.112, it will be 10% per month until the excess is fully reimbursed to public coffers.
After meeting with Renan today, the president of the TCU (Federal Court of Accounts), Augusto Nardes, considered the decision taken by the court's plenary session courageous and republican. According to the minister, salaries exceeding the ceiling in public administration are unfair given the national reality of low salaries. "This is unacceptable and has been happening for a long time," he said.

When questioned about the TCU's delay in analyzing the audit conducted in 2009, Augusto Nardes said that he assumed the presidency of the court this year with a commitment to prioritize the voting on impactful issues that address improving governance in Brazil.
On August 14th, the TCU (Brazilian Federal Court of Accounts) also determined that the Chamber of Deputies must stop paying the salaries of employees who receive above the salary cap. Unlike what was determined for Senate employees, in the Chamber, the ministers decided that employees will not have to return the excess amounts received. The audit identified a total of 1,1 employees on the Chamber's payroll with salaries exceeding the legal limit.

“That [different decision in the Senate] was a change made by the full court. But the Public Prosecutor's Office may appeal, and this issue will be resolved later to align the Chamber's decision with that of the Senate,” said Nardes.

In a statement released today, the Union of Federal Legislative Branch and Court of Accounts Employees (Sindilegis) announced that it will appeal the decision. "If there is any error, it was committed exclusively by the public administration, with the employees having no management power over the situation. Public employees, when approved in a public competition or when occupying commissioned positions or functions, do not negotiate their respective remuneration with the administration," says an excerpt from the document.

Edited by: Carolina Pimentel